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The mechanisms by which pregnancy may unmask pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas are not totally understood. We hypothesized that gestational hormones may participate in the pathophysiology of catecholamine excess during pregnancy. We report a case of silent pheochromocytoma revealed in a pregnant woman by life-threatening adrenergic myocarditis.

In vitro studies were conducted to investigate the effect of estradiol and the pregnancy hormone hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) on epinephrine secretion by cultured cells derived from the patient’s tumor. Expression of LHCG (luteinizing hormone/chorionic gonadotropin) receptor was searched for in the patient’s tumor, and a series of 12 additional pheochromocytomas by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. LHCGR expression was also analyzed in silico in the …